Bev Francis

Bev Francis

Medal record
Representing Australia
Women's Powerlifting
World Games
	1980 IPF Women's World Powerlifting Championships	75 kg (165 lb)
	1981 IPF Women's World Powerlifting Championships	82.5 kg (182 lb)
	1982 IPF Women's World Powerlifting Championships	75 kg (165 lb)
	1983 IPF Women's World Powerlifting Championships	82.5 kg (182 lb)
	1984 IPF Women's World Powerlifting Championships	82.5 kg (182 lb)
	1985 IPF Women's World Powerlifting Championships	82.5 kg (182 lb)

Beverley "Bev" Francis (born 15 February 1955) is a professional female bodybuilder, powerlifter, and national shot put champion from Australia.^[4]

Early life and education

Bev Francis was born in 1955 in Geelong, Australia, the youngest of 5 children. In 1976, she graduated from University of Melbourne where she obtained a degree in physical education and a teaching diploma. After university, she worked as a high school physical education and mathematics teacher for eight years.^[1][4][5][6]

Shot put career

As a teenager she became an accomplished shot putter in track and field. In February 1974, she began serious training. In 1977, she broke the Australian shot put record. From 1977–1979 and 1981–82, she was an Australian track and field team member. She missed the 1980 track season due to knee injury. In 1982, she won the Australian national shot put championships. Along with shot put, she performed discus, javelin, and 100 meter reserve.^[5][6][7]

Powerlifting career

In 1980, Bev held all world records in the 82.5 kg (182 lb) weight class. At the 1981 World Powerlifting Championships, she set a world record when she bench pressed 150 kg (330 lb), the first woman's bench press over 300 pounds. At the 1982 Australian Powerlifting Championships in Adelaide, she set a world record in the 82.5 kg (182 lb) class with a squat of 216 kg (476 lb). She won gold medals in her weight class in the International Powerlifting Federation Championships from 1980 through to 1985.^{[1][5][5][6][8]}

Best lifts

• Squat – 500 lb (230 kg)
• Bench press – 335 lb (152 kg)
• Deadlift – 501 lb (227 kg)^[6]

Legacy

From 1981 to the early 1990s, Bev earned the accolade of "Strongest Woman in History". She was the first woman in the world to bench press over 300 lb (140 kg). She broke over 40 world powerlifting records and was undefeated during her powerlifting career. She was inducted into the International Powerlifting Federation Hall of Fame in 1987.^{[1][6][9][10][11]}

Bodybuilding career

Professional career

After becoming the first woman to bench press over 300 lb (140 kg), a picture of Bev striking a most muscular pose, or "the crab", while wearing a bikini appeared in several bodybuilding magazines around the world. She possessed far more muscular size than the most muscular female bodybuilders at the time. Her powerlifting accolade led to her being invited by producer George Butler to take part in the film Pumping Iron II: The Women, which was being shot around the Cesar's World Cup being held in Las Vegas in December 1983. At that contest, she said she should have been "first or last." She placed in the middle as eighth among 15 competitors.^[1][2] Disappointed with the results, she attempted to re-invent her physique along the lines of what was being rewarded, especially after hearing that she was "too muscular" for the judges' tastes.

Bev guest-posed at the 1985 Mr. Olympia competition, igniting the audience. She finishing 10th in her Ms. Olympia debut of 1986. In 1987, she won the World Pro Championships. She followed up with three 3rd-place finishes at the Ms. Olympia in 1987, 1988, 1989, then moved into second at the Ms. Olympia in 1990 (as runner-up to Lenda Murray). She had overhauled her physique radically from that 1983 Cesar's World Cup, when she was told she was "too muscular", but at the 1990 Olympia she was told she was "not muscular enough" to top Murray. Determined to win their next meeting, she resolved to build the most densely muscled physique ever seen on a female up to that point.^[2][12]

Ms. Olympia 1991

The 1991 Ms. Olympia contest was the first to be televised live by ESPN, broadcasting a women's bodybuilding contest to the largest audience ever at the time (and contributing to the ensuing controversy). To facilitate the network's needs, the competition was held over two days. Rounds one (symmetry) and two (muscularity) were held on Saturday evening, 12 October 1991, whilst rounds three (posing) and four (posedown) were conducted 24 hours later, with the Sunday night proceedings broadcast live.^[2]

At the prejudging, Bev walked out with 160 lb (73 kg) of dense and conditioned muscles stacked on her 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) frame. The audience gasped – none had seen such musculature on a woman before. Almost all the competitors came in considerably larger than at the last competition, surprising not just the mainstream ESPN viewers, but some bodybuilding fans as well. The defending champion Lenda Murray was herself 11 pounds heavier than the previous year.

At the end of the first night's judging, Bev Francis led the field, 4 points ahead of Lenda Murray. On the second night, just before the start of the final two rounds, ESPN (in an unprecedented move for pro bodybuilding) flashed up the half-time scores for their national audience and those inside the Shrine to see Bev in the lead. Since the posing rounds had never been recognized as opportunities for a lagging competitor to come from behind, most insiders (including Bev herself) predicted that she only had to avoid falling over to take the title.^[2]

However, at the conclusion of the second night's events, as Bev stood onstage holding hands with Lenda, she was announced 2nd place, with a score of 31 points to Lenda Murray's 32. Her hand rose halfway to her face in shock before she regained her composure, smiled, and congratulated Lenda. This was the slimmest margin of victory yet for a Ms. Olympia win, with Lenda edging Bev by only 1 point. The audience and commentators were thrown off by this result, since Bev was in the lead after the first two (more contentious) rounds, only to be overtaken somehow in the concluding set. It was usually suggested that the IFBB and ESPN leadership didn’t want a woman carrying more muscle mass than most middleweight men to be recognized as the planet's premier female bodybuilder, and instructed the judges to swing the contest in Lenda's favor. Such interference was not unheard of in the male competition (most controversially at the 1980 Mr. Olympia).^[13] A few months later, the IFBB issued an new policy announcement warning that excessive overt muscularity would be marked down, sparking persistent debate over the subjective criteria and "how much is too much".^[2][14]

Bev Francis retired afterwards, citing disgust over her controversial loss.^[2]

You know when I came in as the most muscular competitor at that 1983 Caesar's Palace contest I said I should have been first or last. The same should have applied at the 1991 Ms. Olympia After being in the lead with only the posing and posedown to go I still can’t believe I lost that contest. In my heart and in my mind I can’t motivate myself to compete in another bodybuilding contest. The fire for competition is no longer there. I have no bitterness. Bodybuilding gave me a great life and I’m thankful for that.

— Bev Francis, February 1993

Body image and judging criteria

Bev Francis and her career played a significant role in the concurrent turmoil over ideals of form (especially regarding muscle mass) and judging criteria for female bodybuilders (which often relied on vague, contentious, and shifting notions of a "feminine" figure).^[15][16]

Her 1983 debut in the made-for-film Cesar's World Cup received much attention for potentially pushing the sport in a more muscular direction. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem commented that her performance "redefined the boundaries of femininity."^[16] However, when she placed 8th, her loss led her to spend years changing her look in an attempt to meet the apparent ideal preferred by the judges.^[2]

Despite years of attempting to achieve higher scores on the femininity aspect of the contests with measures including rhinoplasty, lightening her hair, and slimming down her physique (reducing musculature), she still failed to take first place at the major competitions. However, after successfully developing methods of achieving a more symmetrical physique while maintaining the size built from her powerlifting background (the three power lifts are central to bodybuilding, and bodybuilders with backgrounds as champion powerlifters tend to have tremendous size and density for their frames), she won the World Championship in 1987. She continued to experiment with her physique, leading to a disappointing 1990 Ms. Olympia. There, she was criticized as not having the fullness or muscularity compared to winner Lenda Murray, and subsequently worked on becoming as massive as symmetrically possible for the 1991 Olympia.^[2] After the ensuing 2nd-place finish and resulting controversy, she retired from bodybuilding.

Marcia Pally, in a 1985 article on the film Pumping Iron II: The Women, reported that people often thought of Bev as lesbian. Francis commented that "the categorization annoys me more than what I'm accused of. I've been called a transsexual, a man, and a lesbian. People have to stop putting together things that don't belong together. Muscles don't make a women a lesbian."^[17]

Retirement

After coming in as runner-up at the 1991 Ms. Olympia, Bev retired from bodybuilding.^[2]

Legacy

Bev was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2000. She is also a judge for the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB).^[1][4]

Contest history

• 1983 Caesars World Cup – 8th
• 1984 IFBB Grand Prix Las Vegas – 8th
• 1986 IFBB Grand Prix Las Vegas – 3rd
• 1986 IFBB LA Pro Championship – 3rd
• 1986 IFBB Ms. International – 3rd
• 1986 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 10th
• 1987 IFBB Pro World Championship – 1st
• 1987 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 3rd
• 1988 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 3rd
• 1989 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 3rd
• 1990 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 2nd
• 1991 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 2nd^[3][4]

Personal life

At the 1983 Caesars World Cup, Bev met IFBB judge and powerlifter Steve Weinberger. She moved in with him on Long Island and they were married on 30 September 1984. They have two daughters. In 1986, she and her husband opened Bev Francis' Bodybuilding Gym in Long Island, New York. In 1990, they expanded the gym to Bev Francis Gold's Gym in Syosset, New York. In 2005, the name of the gym was changed to the Powerhouse Gym, Bev Francis. She and her husband currently live in Syosset, New York.^{[2][4][6][11]}

Bev is the co-author of the book Bev Francis' Power Bodybuilding. She has also produced a training video titled "Hard Core Training With World Champion Bev Francis". She has contributed articles to the monthly Female Bodybuilding magazine and has written for the men's magazines "Flex", "Ironman", and "Muscle and Fitness".^[6]

Television appearance

Bev was featured in the 2001 TLC documentary The Greatest Bodies.^[12]

Motion picture appearance

In 1985, Bev gained notice through her role in the movie Pumping Iron II: The Women. The movie featured her in the 1983 Cesar's World Cup. The film casts her in a controversial role within the ongoing debate over femininity and female muscularity, with her naturally massive size and muscular development challenging preconceived notions about the limits of female bodybuilding.^[1][18]

References

External links

• Bev Francis Gold's Gym
• Comprehensive list of articles on Bev Francis